The rift between the National Conference and its Srinagar Member of Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi now appears to be heading towards an inevitable break. A day after National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah publicly challenged Ruhullah to seek a fresh mandate without the National Conference, Ruhullah has hinted at his possible exit.
““It can’t happen that Dr Sahib asks for something and I don’t give it to him, that I send him empty-handed,” Ruhullah said. “I will respond to it (senior Abdullah’s call for resignation) in detail over the next few days.”
This comes as the rift between Ruhullah and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has steadily grown over the last few months, especially given the Srinagar MP’s increasingly independent political positions and growing criticism of the NC government.
Ruhullah, the party’s star campaigner in the 2024 J&K Assembly elections and a leader many candidates appeared to prefer over Omar, has accused the party of backtracking on promises made to the people during the elections and abandoning the fight for Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional rights taken away on August 5, 2019.
Silent over the growing rift between Ruhullah and his son for the last year, Farooq took a public swipe at the Srinagar MP, whom he brought into politics, this week. Speaking to a local news channel, the NC patriarch Farooq Abdullah said:
